The Truth About Katyn

Report of Special Commission
for Ascertaining and Investigating
the circumstances of the Shooting of Polish Officer prisoners by the German-Fascist invaders in the Katyn Forest

Issued by "Soviet War News"

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The Truth About Katyn

Report of Special Commission
for
Ascertaining and Investigating the Circumstances of the Shooting of
Polish Officer Prisoners by the German-Fascist Invaders in the Katyn
Forest

The Special Commission for Ascertaining and Investigating the
Circumstances of the Shooting of Polish Officer Prisoners by the
German-Fascist Invaders in the Katyn Forest (near Smolensk) was set up
on the decision of the Extraordinary State Commission for Ascertaining
and Investigating Crimes Committed by the German-Fascist Invaders and
Their Associates.

The Commission consists of: Member of the
Extraordinary State Commission Academician Burdenko (Chairman of the
Commission); member of the Extraordinary State Commission Academician
Alexei Tolstoy; member of the Extraordinary State Commission the
Metropolitan Nikolai; President of the All-Slav Committee, Lt.-Gen.
Dundorov; the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Union of the
Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Kolesnikov; People's Commissar of
Education of the Russian S.F.S.R.. Academician Potemkin; the Chief of
the Central Medical Administration of the Red Army, Col.-Gen. Smirnov;
the Chairman of the Smolensk Regional Executive Committee, Melnikov. To
accomplish the task assigned to it the Commission invited the following
medico-legal experts to take part in its work: Chief Medico-Legal
Expert of the People's Commissariat of Health Protection of the
U.S.S.R., Director of Scientific Research in the Institute of Forensic
Medicine Prozorovsky; the Head of the Faculty of Forensic Medicine at
the Second Moscow Medical Institute, Doctor of Medicine Smolyaninov;
Senior Staff Scientists of the State Scientific Research Institute of
Forensic Medicine under the People's Commissariat of Health of the
U.S.S.R. Semenovsky and assistant Professor Shvaikova; Chief
Pathologist of the Front, Mayor of Medical Service, Professor Voropayev.

The Special Commission had at its disposal extensive material presented
by the member of the Extraordinary State Commission Academician
Burdenko, his collaborators, and the medico-legal experts who arrived
in Smolensk on September 26, 1943, immediately upon its liberation, and
carried out preliminary study and investigation of the circumstances of
all the crimes perpetrated by the Germans.

The Special Commission verified and ascertained on the spot that 15
kilometres from Smolensk, along the Vitebsk highway, in the section of
the Katyn Forest named "Kozy Gory," 200 metres to the S.W. of the
highway in the direction of the Dnieper, there are graves in which
Polish war prisoners shot by the German occupationists were buried.

On the order of the Special Commission, and in the presence of all its
members and of the medico-legal experts, the graves were excavated. A
large number of bodies clad in Polish military uniform were found in
the graves. The total number of bodies, as calculated by the
medico-legal experts, is 11,000. The medico-legal experts made detailed
examinations of the exhumed bodies and of documents and material
evidence discovered on the bodies and in the graves.

Simultaneously with the excavation of the graves and examination of the
bodies, the Special Commission examined numerous witnesses among local
residents, whose testimony establishes with precision the time and
circumstances of the crimes committed by the German occupationists. The
testimony of witnesses reveals the following.

The Katyn Forest

The Katyn Forest had for long been the favourite resort of Smolensk
people, where they used to rest on holidays. The population of the
neighbourhood grazed cattle and gathered fuel in the Katyn Forest.
Access to the Katyn Forest was not banned or restricted in any way.
This situation prevailed in the Katyn Forest up to the outbreak of war.
Even in the summer of 1941 there was a Young Pioneers' Camp of the
Industrial Insurance Board in this forest, and it was not liquidated
until July, 1941.

An entirely different regime was instituted in the Katyn Forest after
the capture of Smolensk by the Germans. The forest was heavily
patrolled. Notices appeared in many places warning that persons
entering without special passes would be shot on the spot.

The part of the Katyn Forest named "Kozy Gory" was guarded particularly
strictly, as was the area on the bank of the Dnieper, where 700 metres
from the graves of the Polish war prisoners, there was a country house
– the rest home of the Smolensk Administration of the Peoples'
Commissariat of Internal Affairs. When the Germans arrived this country
house was taken over by a German institution named "Headquarters of the
537th Engineering Battalion."

Polish War Prisoners in Smolensk Area

The Special Commission established that, before the capture of Smolensk
by the Germans, Polish war prisoners, officers and men, worked in the
western district of the Region; building and repairing roads. These war
prisoners were quartered in three special camps named Camp No. 1 O.N.,
Camp No. 2 O.N., and Camp No. 3 O.N. These camps were located 25-45
kilometres west of Smolensk.

The testimony of witnesses and documentary evidence establish that
after the outbreak of hostilities, in view of the situation that arose,
the camps could not be evacuated in time and all the Polish war
prisoners, as well as some members of the guard and staffs of the
camps, fell prisoner to the Germans.

The former Chief of Camp No. 1 O.N., Major of State Security
Vetoshnikov, interrupted by the Special Commission, testified: "I was
waiting for the order on the removal of the camp, but communication
with Smolensk was cut. Then I myself with several staff members went to
Smolensk to clarify the situation. In Smolensk I found a tense
situation. I applied to the chief of traffic of the Smolensk section of
the Western Railway, Ivanov, asking him to provide the camp with
railway cars for evacuation of the Polish war prisoners. But Ivanov
answered that I could not count on receiving cars. I also tried to get
in touch with Moscow to obtain permission to set out on foot, but I
failed. By this time Smolensk was already cut off from the camp by the
Germans, and did not know what happened to the Polish war prisoners and
guards who remained in the camp."

Engineer Ivanov, who in July 1941 was acting Chief of Traffic of the
Smolensk Section of the Western Railway, testified before the Special
Commission: "The Administration of Polish War Prisoners' Camps applied
to my office for cars for evacuation of the Poles, but we had none to
spare. Besides, we could not send cars to the Gussino line, where the
majority of the Polish war prisoners were, since that line was already
under fire. Therefore, we could not comply with the request of the
Camps Administration. Thus the Polish war prisoners remained in the
Smolensk Region."

The presence of the Polish war prisoners in the camps in the Smolensk
Region is confirmed by the testimony of numerous witnesses who saw
these Poles near Smolensk in the early months of the occupation up to
September 1941 inclusive.

Witness Maria Alexandrovna Sashneva, elementary schoolteacher in the
village of Zenkovo, told the Special Commission that in August 1941 she
gave shelter in her house in Zenkovo to a Polish war prisoner who had
escaped from camp.

"The Pole wore Polish military uniform, which I recognised at once, as
during 1940 and 1941 I used to see groups of Polish war prisoners
working on the road under guard... I took an interest in the Pole
because it turned out that, before being called up, he had been an
elementary schoolteacher in Poland. He told me that he had completed
normal school in Poland and then studied at some military school and
was a Junior Lieutenant of the Reserve. At the outbreak of war between
Poland and Germany he was called up and served in Brest-Litovsk, where
he was taken prisoner by Red Army units.... He spent over a year in the
camp near Smolensk.

"When the Germans arrived they seized the Polish camp and instituted a
strict regime in it. The Germans did not regard the Poles as human
beings. They oppressed and outraged them in every way. On some
occasions Poles were shot without any reason at all. He decided to
escape. Speaking of himself, he said that his wife too, was a teacher
and that he had two brothers and two sisters...."

On leaving next day the Pole gave his name, which Sashneva put down in
a book. In this book, "Practical Studies in Natural History," by
Yagodovsky, which Sashneva handed to the Special Commission, there is a
note on the last page: "Juzeph and Sofia Loek. House 25, Ogorodnaya
St., town Zamostye." In the list published by the Germans, under No.
3796 Lt. Juzeph Loek is put down as having been shot at "Kozy Gory" in
the Katyn Forest in the spring of 1940. Thus, from the German report,
it would appear that Juzeph Loek had been shot one year before the
witness Sashneva saw him.

The witness Danilenkov, a peasant of the "Krasnaya Zarya" collective
farm of the Katyn Rural Soviet, stated: "In August and September, 1941,
when the Germans arrived, I used to meet Poles working on the roads in
groups of 15 to 20."

Similar statements were made by the following witnesses: Soldatenkov,
former headman of the village of Borok; Kolachev, a Smolensk doctor;
Ogloblin, a priest; Sergeyev, track foreman; Smiryagin, engineer;
Moskovskaya, resident of Smolensk; Alexeyev, chairman of a collective
farm in the village of Borok; Kutseev, waterworks technician;
Gorodetsky, a priest; Brazekina, a bookkeeper; Vetrova, a teacher;
Savvateyev, stationmaster at the Gnezdovo station, and others.

Round-Ups of Polish War Prisoners

The presence of Polish war prisoners in the autumn of 1941 in Smolensk
districts is also confirmed by the fact that the Germans made numerous
round-ups of those war prisoners who had escaped from the camps.

Witness Kartoshkin, a carpenter, testified: "In the autumn of 1941 the
Germans not only scoured the forests for Polish war prisoners, but also
used police to make night searches in the villages."

Zakharov, former headman of the village of Novye Bateki, testified that
in the autumn of 1941, the Germans intensively "combed" the villages
and forests in search of Polish war prisoners. Witness Danilenkov a
peasant of the Krasnaya Zarya collective farm, testified: "Special
round-ups were held in our place to catch Polish war prisoners who had
escaped. Some searches took place in my house two or three times. After
one such search I asked the headman, Konstantin Sergeyev, whom they
were looking for in our village. Sergeyev said that an order had been
received from the German Kommandantur according to which searches were
to be made in all houses without exception, since Polish war prisoners
who had escaped from the camp were hiding in our village. After some
time the searches were discontinued."

The witness collective farmer Fatkov testified: "Round-ups and searches
for Polish war prisoners took place several times. That was in August
and September, 1941. After September, 1941, the round-ups were
discontinued and no one saw Polish war prisoners anymore."

Shootings of Polish War Prisoners

The above-mentioned "Headquarters of the 537th Engineering Battalion"
quartered in the country house at "Kozy Gory" did not engage in any
engineering work. Its activities were a closely guarded secret. What
this "headquarters" engaged in, in reality, was revealed by numerous
witnesses, including Alexeyeva, Mikhailova and Konakhovskaya, residents
of the village of Borok of the Katyn Rural Soviet.

On the order of the German Commandant of the Settlement of Katyn, they
were detailed by the headman of the village of Borok, Soldatenkov, to
serve the personnel of "headquarters" at the above-mentioned country
house. On arrival in "Kozy Gory" they were told through an interpreter
about a number of restrictions;­

They were absolutely forbidden to go far from the country house or to
go to the forest to enter rooms without being called and without being,
escorted by German soldiers, to remain in the grounds of the country
house at night. They were allowed to come to work and leave after work
only by a definite route and only escorted by soldiers. This warning
was given to Alexeyeva, Mikhailova and Konakhovskaya, through an
interpreter, personally by the Chief of the German Institution,
Ober-leutnant Arnes, who for this purpose summoned them one at a time.

As to the personnel of the "headquarters," Alexeyeva testified: "In the
'Kozy Gory' country house there were always about thirty Germans. Their
chief was Ober-leutnant Arnes, and his aide was Ober-leutnant Rekst.
Here were also a Lieutenant Hott, Sergeant-Major Lumert, N.C.O. in
charge of supplies; Rose, his assistant Isikes, Sergeant-Major
Grenewski, who was in charge of the power station; the photographer, a
corporal whose name I do not remember; the interpreter, a Volga German
whose name seems to have been Johann, but I called him Ivan; the cook,
a German named Gustav; and a number of others whose names and surnames
I do not know."

Soon after beginning their work, Alexeyeva, Mikhailova and
Konakhovskaya began to notice that "something shady" was going on at
the country house.

Alexeyeva testified: "The interpreter warned us several times on behalf
of Arnes that we wore to hold our tongues and not chatter about what we
saw and heard at the country house. Besides, I guessed from a number of
signs that the Germans were engaged in some shady doings at this
country house.... At the close of August and during most of September
1941 several trucks used to come practically every day to the ‘Kozy
Gory' country house. At first I paid no attention to that, but later I
noticed that each time these trucks arrived at the grounds of the
country house they stopped for half-an-hour, and sometimes for a whole
hour, somewhere on the country road connecting the country house with
the highway. I drew this conclusion because some time after these
trucks reached the grounds of the country house the noise they made
would cease.

“Simultaneously with the noise stopping, single shots would be heard.
The shots followed one another at short but approximately even
intervals. Then the shooting would die down and the trucks would drive
up right to the country house. German soldiers and N.C.O.s came out of
the trucks. Talking noisily they went to wash in the bathhouse, after
which they engaged in drunken orgies. On those days a fire was always
kept burning in the bathhouse stove.

"On days when the trucks arrived more soldiers from some German
military units used to arrive at the country house. Special beds were
put up for them in the soldiers' Casino set up in one of the halls of
the country house. On those days many meals were cooked in the kitchen
and a double ration of drinks was served with the meals. Shortly before
the trucks reached the country house armed soldiers went to the forest
evidently to the spot where the trucks stopped, because in half an hour
or an hour they returned in these trucks, together with the soldiers
who lived permanently in the country house.

"Probably I would not have watched or noticed how the noise of the
trucks coming to the country house used to die down and then rise again
were it not for the fact that whenever the trucks arrived We
(Konakhovskaya, Mikhailova and myself) were driven to the kitchen if we
happened to be in the courtyard near the house; and they would not let
us out of the kitchen if we happened to be in it. There was also the
fact that on several occasions I noticed stains of fresh blood on the
clothes of two Lance Corporals. All this made me pay close attention to
what was going on at the country house.

"Then I noticed strange intervals in the movement of the trucks and
their pauses in the forest. I also noticed that bloodstains appeared on
the clothes of the same two men – the Lance Corporals. One of them was
tall and red-headed, the other of medium height and fair. From all this
I inferred that the Germans brought people in the truck to the country
house and shot them. I even guessed approximately where this took place
as, when coming to and leaving the country house, I noticed freshly
thrown-up earth in several places near the road. The area of this
freshly thrown-up earth increased every day. In the course of time the
earth in these spots began to look normal."

In answer to a question put by the Special Commission – what kind of
people were shot in the forest near the country house – Alexeyeva
replied that they were Polish war prisoners, and in confirmation of her
words stated:

"There were days when no trucks arrived at the country house, but even
so soldiers left the house for the forest, whence came frequent single
shots. On returning the soldiers always took a bath and then drank.

"Another thing happened. Once I stayed at the country house somewhat
later than usual. Mikhailova and Konakhovskaya had already left. Before
I finished the work which had kept me there, a soldier suddenly entered
and told me I could go. He referred to Rose's order. He also
accompanied me to the highway.

"Standing on the highway 150 or 200 metres from where the road branches
off to the country house I saw a group of about 30 Polish war prisoners
marching along the highway under heavy German escort. I knew them to be
Poles because even before the war, and for same time after the Germans
came, I used to meet on the highway Polish war prisoners wearing the
same uniform with their characteristic four-cornered hats. I halted
near the roadside to see where they were being led, and I saw that they
turned towards our country house at 'Kozy Gory.'

“Since by that time I had begun to watch closely everything going on at
the country house, I became interested. I went back some distance along
the highway, hid in bushes near the roadside, and waited. In some 20 or
30 minutes I heard the familiar single shots. Then everything became
clear to me and I hurried home.

“I also concluded that evidently the Germans were shooting Poles not
only in the daytime when we worked at the country house, but also at
night in our absence. I understood this also from recalling the
occasions when all the officers and men who lived in the country house,
with the exception of the sentries, woke up late, about noon. On
several occasions we guessed about the arrival of the Poles in 'Kozy
Gory' from the tense atmosphere that descended on the country house….
All the officers left the country house and only a few sentries
remained in it, while the Sergeant-Major kept checking up on the
sentries over the telephone…"

Mikhailova testified: “In September, 1941, shooting was heard very
often in the 'Kozy Gory' Forest. At first I took no notice of the
trucks, which were closed at the sides and on top and painted green.
They used to drive up to our country house always accompanied by
N.C.O.'s. Then I noticed that these trucks never entered our garage,
and also that they were never unloaded. They used to come very often,
especially in September, 1941.

“Among the N.C.O.'s who always sat with the drivers I began to notice
one tall one with a pale face and red hair. When these trucks drove up
to the country house, all the Germans, as if at a command, went to the
bathhouse and bathed for a long time, after which they drank heavily in
the country house. Once this tall red-headed German got down from the
truck, went to the kitchen and asked for water. When he was drinking
the water out of a glass I noticed blood on the cuff of the right
sleeve of his uniform."

Mikhailova and Konakhovskaya witnessed the shooting of two Polish war
prisoners who had evidently escaped from the Germans and been caught.
Mikhailova testified: "Once Konakhovskaya and I were at our usual work
in the kitchen when we heard a noise near the country house. On coming
out we saw two Polish-war prisoners surrounded by German soldiers who
were explaining something to N.C.O. Rose. Then Ober-Leutnant Arnes came
over to them and told Rose something. We hid some distance away, as we
were afraid that Rose would beat us up for being inquisitive.

"'We were discovered, however, and at a signal from Rose the mechanic
Grenewski drove us into the kitchen and the Poles away from the country
house. A few minutes later we heard shots. The German soldiers and
N.C.O. Rose, who soon returned, were engaged in animated conversation.
Wanting to find out what the Germans had done to the detained Poles,
Konakhovskaya and I came out again. Arnes' aide, who came out
simultaneously with us from the main entrance of the country house,
asked Rose something in German, to which the latter answered, also in
German: 'Everything is in order.' We understood these words because the
Germans often used them in their conversation. From all that took place
I concluded that these two Poles had been shot."

Similar testimony was given by Konakhovskaya. Frightened by the
happenings at the country house, Alexeyeva, Mikhailova and
Konakhovskaya decided to quit work on some convenient pretext. Taking
advantage of the reduction of their "wages" from nine to three marks a
month at the beginning of January, 1942, on Mikhailova's suggestion
they did not report for work. In the evening of the same day a car came
to fetch them, they were brought to the country house and locked up by
way of punishment – Mikhailova for eight days and Alexeyeva and
Konakhovskaya for three days each. After they had served their terms
all of them were sacked.

While working at the country house Alexeyeva, Mikhailova and
Konakhovskaya had been afraid to speak to each other about what they
had observed of the happenings there. But during their arrest, sitting
in the cell at night, they shared their knowledge.

At the interrogation on December 24, 1943, Mikhailova testified: "Here
for the first time we talked frankly about the happenings at the
country house. I told all I knew. It turned out that Konakhovskaya and
Alexeyeva also knew these facts but, like myself, had been afraid to
discuss them. I learned from them that it was Polish war prisoners the
Germans used to shoot at 'Kozy Gory.' Alexeyeva said that once in the
autumn of 1941, when she was going home from work, she saw the Germans
driving a large group of Polish war prisoners into 'Kozy Gory' Forest
and then she heard shooting."

Similar testimony was given by Alexeyeva and Konakhovskaya. On
comparing notes Alexeyeva, Mikhailova and Konakhovskaya arrived at the
firm conviction that in August and September, 1941, the Germans had
engaged on mass shootings of Polish war prisoners at the country house
in "Kozy Gory."

The testimony of Alexeyeva is confirmed by the testimony of her father,
Mikhail Alexeyev, whom she told as far back as in the autumn of 1941,
during her work at the country house, about her observations of the
Germans' activities at the country house. "For a long time she would
not tell me anything," Mikhail Alexeyev testified, "only on coming home
she complained that she was afraid to work at the country house and did
not know how to get away. When I asked her why she was afraid she said
that very often shooting was heard in the forest. Once she told me in
secret that in 'Kozy Gory' Forest the Germans were shooting Poles. I
listened to my daughter and warned her very strictly that she should
not tell anyone else about it, as otherwise the Germans would learn and
then our whole family would suffer."

That Polish war prisoners use to be brought to "Kozy Gory" in small
groups of 20 to 30 men escorted by five to seven German soldiers, was
also testified by other witnesses interrogated by the Special
Commission: Kisselev, peasant of "Kozy Gory" hamlet; Krivozertsev,
carpenter of Krasnyi Bor station in the Katyn Forest; Ivanov, former
station master at Gnezdovo in the Katyn Forest area; Savvateyev,
station master on duty at. the same station; Alexeyev, chairman of a
collective farm in the village of Borok; Ogloblin, priest of Kuprino
Church, and others. These witnesses also heard shots in the forest at
"Kozy Gory."

Of especially great importance in ascertaining what took place at "Kozy
Gory" country house in the autumn of 1941 is the testimony of Professor
of Astronomy Bazilevsky, director of the Smolensk Observatory. In the
early days of the occupation of Smolensk by the Germans, Professor
Bazilevsky was forcibly appointed by the assistant Burgomaster while to
the post of Burgomaster they appointed the lawyer Menshagin, who
subsequently left together with them, a traitor who enjoyed the special
confidence of the German Command and in particular of the Smolensk
Kommandant Von Schwetz.

Early in September, 1941, Bazilevsky addressed to Menshagin a request
to solicit the Kommandant Von Schwetz for the liberation of the teacher
Zhiglinsky from War Prisoners Camp No. 126. In compliance with this
request Menshagin approached Von Schwetz and then informed Bazilevsky
that his request could not be granted since, according to Von Schwetz,
"instructions had been received from Berlin prescribing that the
strictest regime be maintained undeviatingly in regard to war prisoners
without any slackening."

"I involuntarily retorted," witness Bazilevsky testified, " 'Can
anything be stricter than the regime existing in the camp?' Menshagin
looked at me in a strange way and bending to my ear, answered in a low
voice: 'Yes, there can be! The Russians can at least be left to die
off, but as to the Polish war prisoners, the orders say that they are
to be simply exterminated.' 'How is that? How should it be understood?'
I exclaimed: 'This should be understood literally. There is such a
directive from Berlin,' answered Menshagin, and asked me 'for the sake
of all that is Holy' not to tell anyone about this…

"About a fortnight after this conversation with Menshagin, when I was
again received by him, I could not keep from asking: 'What news about
the Poles?' Menshagin hesitated for a little, but then answered:
‘Everything is over with them. Von Schwetz told me that they had been
shot somewhere near Smolensk.' Seeing my bewilderment Menshagin warned
me again about the necessity of keeping this affair in the strictest
secrecy and then started 'explaining' to me the Germans' policy in this
matter. He told me that the shooting of Poles was one link in the
general chain of anti-Polish policy pursued by Germany, which became
especially marked in connection with the conclusion of the Russo-Polish
Treaty."

Bazilevsky also told the Special Commission about his conversation with
the Sonderfuehrer of the 7th Department of the German Kommandant's
Office, Hirschfeld, a Baltic German who spoke good Russian:

"With cynical frankness Hirschfeld told me that the harmfulness and
inferiority of the Poles had been proved by history and therefore
reduction of Poland's population would fertilise the soil and make
possible an extension of Germany's living space. In this connection
Hirschfeld boasted that absolutely no intellectuals had been left in
Poland, as they had all been hanged, shot or confined in camps."

Bazilevsky's testimony is confirmed by the witness Yefimov, Professor
of Physics, who has been interrogated by the Special Commission and
whom Bazilevsky at that time, in the autumn of 1941, told about his
conversation with Menshagin.

Documentary corroboration of Bazilevsky's and Yefimov's testimony is
supplied by notes made by Menshagin in his own hand in his notebook.
This notebook, containing 17 incomplete pages, was found in the files
of the Smolensk Municipal Board after the liberation of Smolensk by the
Red Army. Menshagin's ownership of the notebook and his handwriting
have been confirmed both by Bazilevsky, who knew Menshagin's hand well,
and by expert graphologists.

Judging by the dates in the notebook, its contents relate to the period
from early August, 1941, to November of the same year. Among the
various notes on economic matters (on firewood, electric power, trade,
etc.) there is a number of notes made by Menshagin evidently as a
reminder of instructions issued by the German commandant's office in
Smolensk. These notes reveal with sufficient clarity the range of
problems with which the Municipal Board dealt as the organ fulfilling
all the instructions of the German Command.

The first three pages of the notebook lay down in detail the procedure
in organising the Jewish "Ghetto" and the system of reprisals to be
applied against the Jews.

Page 10, dated August 15, 1941, contains the following note: "All
fugitive Polish war prisoners are to be detained and delivered to the
commandant's office." Page 15 (undated) contains the entry: "Are there
any rumours among the population concerning the shooting of Polish war
prisoners in 'Kozy Gory' (for Umnov)."

It transpires from the first entry, firstly, that on August 15, 1941,
Polish war prisoners were still in the Smolensk area and, secondly,
that they were being arrested by the German authorities. The second
entry indicates that the German Command, worried by the possibility of
rumours about the crime it had committed circulating among the civilian
population, issued special instructions for the purpose of checking
this surmise. Umnov, mentioned in this entry, was the Chief of the
Russian Police in Smolensk during the early months of its occupation.

Beginning of German Provocation

In the
winter of 1942-43 the general military situation changed sharply to the
disadvantage of the Germans. The military power of the Soviet Union was
continually growing stronger. The unity between the U.S.S.R. and her
Allies was growing stronger. The Germans resolved to launch a
provocation, using for this purpose the crimes they had committed in
the Katyn Forest, and ascribing them to the organs of the Soviet
authorities. In this way they intended to set the Russians and Poles at
loggerheads and to cover up the traces of their own crimes. A priest,
Ogloblin, of the village of Kuprino in the Smolensk district, stated:

"After the events at Stalingrad, when the Germans began to feel
uncertain, they launched this business. The people started to say that
‘the Germans are trying to mend their affairs.' Having embarked on the
preparation of the Katyn provocation, the Germans first set about
looking for witnesses who would, under the influence of persuasion,
bribes or threats, give the testimony which the Germans needed. The
attention of the Germans was attracted to the peasant Parfen
Gavrilovich Kisselev, born in 1870, who lived in the hamlet nearest to
the house in 'Kozy Gory.' "

Kisselev was summoned to the Gestapo at the close of 1942. Under the
threat of reprisals, they demanded of him fictitious testimony alleging
that he knew that in the spring of 1940 the Bolsheviks shot Polish war
prisoners at the country house of the administration of the People's
Commissariat for Internal Affairs in "Kozy Gory."

Kisselev informed the Commission: "In the autumn of 1942 two policemen
came to my house and ordered me to report to the Gestapo at Gnezdovo
station. On that same day I went to the Gestapo, which had its premises
in a two-storeyed house next to the railway station. In a room there
were a German officer and interpreter. The German officer started
asking me through the interpreter how long I had lived in that
district, what my occupation and my material circumstances were. I told
him that I had lived in the hamlet in the area of' ‘Kozy Gory' since
1907 and worked on my farm. As to my material circumstances, I said
that I had experienced some difficulties since I was old and my sons
were at the war.

"After a brief conversation on this subject, the officer stated that,
according to information at the disposal of the Gestapo, in 1940, in
the area of' ‘Kozy Gory' in the Katyn Forest, staff members of the
People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs shot Polish officers, and he
asked me what testimony I could give on this score. I answered that I
had never heard of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs
shooting people at ‘Kozy Gory,' and that anyhow it was impossible, I
explained to the officer, since 'Kozy Gory' is an absolutely open and
much frequented place, and if shootings had gone on there the entire
population of the neighbouring villages would have known.

"The officer told me I must nevertheless give such evidence because he
alleged the shootings did take place. I was promised a big reward for
this testimony. I told the officer again that I did not know anything
about shootings, and that nothing of the sort could have taken place in
our locality before the war. In spite of this the officer obstinately
insisted on my giving false evidence.

"After the first conversation about which I have already spoken, I was
summoned again to the Gestapo in February, 1943. By that time I knew
that other residents of neighbouring villages had also been summoned to
the Gestapo and that the same testimony they demanded of me had also
been demanded of them.

"At the Gestapo the same officer and interpreter who had interrogated
me the first time again demanded of me evidence that I had witnessed
the shooting of Polish officers, allegedly effected by the People's
Commissariat for Internal Affairs in 1940. I again told the Gestapo
officer that this was a lie, as before the war I had not heard anything
about any shootings, and that I would not give false evidence. The
interpreter, however, would not listen to me, but took a handwritten
document from the desk and read it to me. It said that I, Kisselev,
resident of a hamlet in the 'Kozy Gory' area, personally witnessed the
shooting of Polish officers by staff members of the People's
Commissariat for Internal Affairs in 1940.

"Having read this document, the interpreter told me to sign it. I
refused to do so. The interpreter began to force me to do it by abuse
and threats. Finally he shouted: 'Either you sign it at once or we
shall destroy you. Make your choice!'

"Frightened by these threats, I signed the document and thought that would be the end of the matter."

Later, after the Germans had arranged visits to the Katyn graves by
various "delegations," Kisselev was made to speak before a "Polish
delegation" which arrived there. Kisselev forgot the contents of the
protocol he had signed at the Gestapo, got mixed up, and finally
refused to speak. The Gestapo then arrested Kisselev, and, by ruthless
beatings, in the course of six weeks again obtained his consent to
"public speeches."

In this connection Kisselev stated: "In reality
things went quite a different way. In spring, 1943, the Germans
announced that in the "Kozy Gory" area in Katyn Forest they had
discovered the graves of Polish officers allegedly shot in 1940by
organs of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs. Soon after
that the Gestapo interpreter cattle to my house and took me to the
forest in the "Kozy Gory" area.

"When we had left the house and
were alone together, the interpreter warned me that I must tell the
people present in the forest everything exactly as it was written down
in the document I had signed at the Gestapo.

"When I came into the forest I saw open graves and a group of
strangers. The interpreter told me that these were 'Polish delegates'
who had arrived to inspect the graves. When we approached the graves
the 'delegates' started asking me various questions in Russian in
connection with the shooting of Poles, but as more than a month had
passed since I had been summoned to the Gestapo I forgot everything
that was in the document I had signed, got mixed up, and finally said I
did not know anything about the shooting of Polish officers.

"The German officer got very angry. The interpreter roughly dragged me
away from the 'delegation' and chased me off. Next morning a car with a
Gestapo officer drove up to my house. He found me in the yard, told me
that I was under arrest, put me into the car and took me to Smolensk
Prison…

"After my arrest I was interrogated many times, but they beat me more
than they questioned me. The first time they summoned me they beat me
up heavily and abused me, complaining that I had let them down, and
then sent me back to the cell. During the next summons they told me I
must state publicly that I had witnessed the shooting of Polish
officers by the Bolsheviks, and that until the Gestapo was satisfied I
would do this in good faith I would not be released from prison. I told
the officer that I would rather sit in prison than tell people lies to
their faces. After that I was badly beaten up.

"There were several such interrogations accompanied by beatings, and as
a result I lost all my strength, my hearing became poor and I could not
move my right arm. About one month after my arrest a German officer
summoned me and said: 'You see the consequences of your obstinacy,
Kisselev. We have decided to execute you. In the morning we shall take
you to Katyn Forest and hang you.' I asked the officer not to do this,
and started pleading with him that I was not fit for the part of
'eye-witness' of the shooting as I did not know how to tell lies and
therefore I would mix everything up again.

"The officer continued to insist. Several minutes later soldiers came
into the room and started beating me with rubber clubs. Being unable to
stand the beatings and torture, I agreed to appear publicly with a
fallacious tale about shooting of Poles by Bolsheviks. After that I was
released from prison on condition that on the first demand of the
Germans I would speak before 'delegations' in Katyn Forest…

On every occasion, before leading me to the graves in the forest, the
interpreter; used to come to my house, call me out into the yard, take
me aside to make sure that no one would hear, and for half an hour make
me memorise by heart everything I would have to say about the alleged
shooting of Polish officers by the People's Commissariat for Internal
Affairs in 1940.

"I recall that the interpreter told me something like this: 'I live in
a cottage in 'Kozy Gory’ area not far from the country house of the
People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs. In spring 1940 I saw Poles
taken on various nights to the forest and shot there.' Andthen it was
imperative that I must state literally that "this was the doing of the
People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs." After I had memorised what
the interpreter told me, he would take me to the open graves in the
forest and compel me to repeat all this in the presence of
'delegations' which came there.

"My statements were strictly supervised and directed by the Gestapo
interpreter. Once when I spoke before some 'delegation' I was asked the
question: 'Did you see these Poles personally before they were shot by
the Bolsheviks?' I was not prepared for such a question and answered
the way it was in fact, i.e., that I saw Polish war prisoners before
the war, as they worked on the roads. Then the interpreter roughly
dragged me aside and drove me home.

"Please believe me when I say that all the time I felt pangs of
conscience, as I knew that in reality the Polish officers had been shot
by the Germans in 1941. I had no other choice, as I was constantly
threatened with the repetition of my arrest and torture."

Kisselev's testimony regarding his summons to the Gestapo, subsequent
arrest and beatings are confirmed by his wife Aksinya Kisseleva, born
1870, his son Vassily Kisselev, born 1911, and his daughter-in-law
Mariya Kisseleva, born 1918, who live with him, as well as by track
foreman Timofey Sergeyev, born 1901, who rents a room in Kisselev's
hamlet. The injuries caused to Kisselev at the Gestapo (injury of
shoulder, considerable impairment of hearing) are confirmed by a
protocol of medical examination.

In their search for "witnesses" the Germans subsequently became
interested in railway workers at the Gnezdovo station, two and half
kilometres from "Kozy Gory," the station at which the Polish prisoners
arrived in spring 1940. The Germans evidently wanted to obtain
corresponding testimony from the railwaymen. For this purpose, in
spring 1943, the Germans summoned to the Gestapo the ex-stationmaster
of Gnezdovo station, Ivanov, the stationmaster on duty, Savvateyev, and
others.

Ivanov, born in 1882, gave the following account of the circumstances
in which he was summoned to the Gestapo: "It was in March 1943. I was
interrogated by a German officer in the presence of an interpreter.
Having asked me through the interpreter who I was and what post I held
at Gnezdovo station before the occupation of the district by the
Germans, the officer inquired whether I knew that in spring 1940 large
parties of captured Polish officers had arrived at Gnezdovo station in
several trains. I said that I knew about this, The officer then asked
me whether I knew that in the same spring 1940, soon after the arrival
of the Polish officers, the Bolsheviks had shot them all in the Katyn
Forest. I answered that I did not know anything about that, and that it
could not be so, as in the course of 1940-41, up to the occupation of
Smolensk by the Germans, I had met captured Polish officers who had
arrived in spring 1940 at Gnezdovo station, and who were engaged in
road construction work.

“The officer told me that if a German officer said the Poles had
been shot by the Bolsheviks it meant that this was the fact.
‘Therefore,' the officer continued, 'you need not fear anything, and
you can sign with a clear conscience a protocol saying that the
captured Polish officers were shot by the Bolsheviks and that you
witnessed it.’'

"I replied that I was already an old man, that I
was 61 years old, and did not want to commita sin in my old age. I
could only testify that the captured Poles really arrived at Gnezdovo
station in spring 1940. The German officer began to persuade me to give
the required testimony promising that if I agreed he would promote me
from the position of watchman on a railway crossing to that of
stationmaster of Gnezdovo station, which I had held under the Soviet
Government, and also to provide for my material needs.

"The interpreter emphasised that my testimony as a former railway
official at Gnezdovo station, the nearest station to Katyn Forest, was
extremely important for the German Command, and that I would not regret
it if I gave such testimony. I understood that I had landed in an
extremely difficult situation, and that a sad fate awaited me. However,
I again refused to give false testimony to the German officer. He
started shouting at me, threatened me with beating and shooting, and
said I did not understand what was good for me. However, I stood my
ground. The interpreter then drew up a short protocol in German on one
page, and gave me a free translation of its contents. This protocol
recorded, as the interpreter told me, only the fact of the arrival of
the Polish war prisoners at Gnezdovo station. When I asked that my
testimony be recorded not only in German but also in Russian, the
officer finally went beside himself with fury, beat me up with a rubber
club and drove me off the premises...."

Savvateyev, born in 1880, stated: "In the Gestapo I testified that in
spring 1940 Polish war prisoners arrived at the station of Gnezdovo in
several trains and proceeded further in trucks, and 1 did not know
where they went. I also added that I repeatedly met these Poles later
on the Moscow-Minsk highway, where they were working on repairs in
small groups. The officer told me. I was mixing things up, that I could
not have the Poles on the highway, as they had been shot by the
Bolsheviks, and demanded that I testify to this.

"I refused. After threatening and cajoling me for a long time, the
officer consulted with the interpreter about something in German, and
then the interpreter wrote a short protocol and gave it to me to sign.
He explained that it was a record of my testimony. I asked the
interpreter to let me read the protocol myself, but he interrupted me
with abuse, ordering me to sign it immediately and get out. I hesitated
a minute. The interpreter seized a rubber club hanging on the wall and
made to strike me. After that I signed the protocol shoved at me: The
interpreter told me to get out and go home, and not to talk to anyone
or I would be shot.

The search for "witnesses" was not limited to the above-mentioned
persons. The Germans strove persistently to locate former employees of
the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs and extort from them the
false testimony which the Germans needed.

Having chanced to arrest Ignatyuk, formerly a labourer in the garage of
the Smolensk Regional Administration of the People's Commissariat of
Internal Affairs, the Germans stubbornly, by threats and beatings,
tried to extort from him testimony that he had been a car driver and
not merely a labourer in the garage, and had himself driven Polish war
prisoners to the shooting site.

Ignatyuk, born in 1903, testified in this connection: "When I was
examined for the first time by Chief of Police Alferchik, he accused me
of agitating against the German authorities, and asked what work I had
done for the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs. I replied that
I had worked in the garage of the Smolensk Regional Administration of
the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs as a labourer. At this
examination Alferchik tried to get me to testify that I had worked as a
car driver and not as a labourer. Alferchik was greatly irritated by
his failure to obtain the required testimony from me, and he and his
aide, whom he called George, tied up my head and mouth with some rag,
removed my trousers, laid me on a table and began to beat me with
rubber clubs.

"After that I was summoned again for examination, and Alferchik
demanded that I give him false testimony to the effect that the Polish
officers had been shot in Katyn Forest by organs of the People's
Commissariat of Internal Affairs in 1940, of which I allegedly was
aware, as a chauffeur who had taken part in driving the Polish officers
to Katyn Forest, and who had been present at their shooting. Alferchik
promised to liberate me from prison if I would agree to give such
testimony, and get me a job with the police where I would be given good
living conditions – otherwise they would shoot me…

"The last time I was interrogated in the police station by examiner
Alexandrov, who demanded from me the same false testimony about the
shooting of the Polish officers as Alferchik, but at this examination,
too, I refused to give false evidence. After this examination I was
again beaten up and sent to the Gestapo... In the Gestapo; just as at
the police station, they demanded from me false evidence about the
shooting of the Polish officers in Katyn Forest in 1940 by Soviet
authorities, of which I as car driver was allegedly aware."

A book published by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and
containing material about the "Katyn Affair" fabricated by the Germans,
refers to other "witnesses" besides the above-mentioned Kisselev:
Godesov (alias Godunov) born in 1877, Grigori Silversov, born in 1891,
Ivan Andreyev, born in 1917, Mikhail Zhigulev, born in 1915, Ivan
Krivozertsev, born in 1915, and Matvey Zakharov, born in 1893.

A check-up revealed that the first two of the above persons (Godesov
and Silversov) died in 1943 before the liberation of the Smolensk
Region by the Red Army; the next three (Andreyev, Zhigulev and
Krivozertsev) left with the Germans, or perhaps were forcibly abducted
by them, while the last – Matvey Zakharov – formerly a coupler at
Smolensk Station, who worked under the Germans as headman in the
village Novye Bateki, was located and examined by the Special
Commission.

Zakharov related how the Germans got from him the false testimony they
needed about the "Katyn affair": "Early in March, 1943, an employee of
the Gnezdovo Gestapo whose name I do not know came to my house and told
me that an officer wanted to see me. When I arrived at the Gestapo a
German officer told me through an interpreter: 'We know you worked as
coupler at Smolensk Central Station and you must testify that in 1940
cars with Polish war prisoners passed through Smolensk on the way to
Gnezdovo, after which the Poles were shot in the forest at ‘Kozy
Gory.’ ’ In reply I stated that in 1940 cars with Poles did pass
Smolensk westwards, but I did not know what their destination was.

"The officer told me that if I did not want to testify of my own accord
he would force me to do so. After saying this he took a rubber club and
began to beat me up. Then I was laid on a bench and the officer,
together with the interpreter, beat me. I do not remember how many
strokes I had, because I soon fainted.

"When I came to, the officer demanded that I sign a protocol of the
examination. I had lost courage as a result of the beating and threats
of shooting, so I gave false evidence and signed the protocol. After I
had signed the protocol I was released from the Gestapo.

"Several days after I had been summoned to the Gestapo, approximately
in mid-March, 1943, the interpreter came to my house and said I must go
to the German general and confirm my testimony in his presence. The
general asked me whether I confirmed my testimony. I said I did confirm
it, as on the way I had been warned by the interpreter that if I
refused to confirm the testimony I would have a much worse experience
than I had on my first visit to the Gestapo.

"Fearing a repetition of the torture, I replied that I confirmed my
testimony. Then the interpreter ordered me to raise my right hand, and
told me I had taken an oath and could go home.”

It has been established that in other cases also the Germans used
persuasion, threats and torture in trying to obtain the testimony they
needed, for example, from Kaverznev, former deputy chief of the
Smolensk Prison, and Kovalev, former staff member of the same prison.
Since the search for the required number of witnesses failed to yield
any success, the Germans posted up in Smolensk city and neighbouring
villages the following handbill, an original of which is on the files
of the Special Commission:

"Notice to the population. Who can give information concerning the mass
murder of prisoners, Polish officers and priests by the Bolsheviks in
the forest of' ‘Kozy Gory' near the Gnezdovo-Katyn highway in 1940? Who
saw columns of trucks on their way from Gnezdovo to 'Kozy Gory,' or who
saw or heard the shootings? Who knows residents who can tell about
this! Rewards will be given for any information. Information to be sent
to Smolensk, German Police Station, No. 6, Muzeinaya Street, and in
Gnezdovo to the German Police Station, house No. 105 near the railway
station. Foss, Lieutenant of Field Force, May 3, 1943."

A similar notice was printed in the newspaper "Novy Put," published by
the Germans in Smolensk – No. 35 (157) for May 6, 1943.

The fact that the Germans promised rewards for the evidence they needed
on the"Katyn affair" was confirmed by witnesses called by the Special
Commission: Sokolova, Pushchina, Bychkov, Tondarev, Ustinov and many
other residents of Smolensk.

Preparing Katyn Graves

Along
with the search for "witnesses" the Germans proceeded with the
preparation of the graves in Katyn Forest: they removed from the
clothing of the Polish prisoners whom they had killed all documents
dated later than April, 1940 – that is, the time when, according to the
German provocational version, the Poles were shot by the Bolsheviks –
and removed all material evidence which could disprove this
provocational version. In its
investigation the Special Commission revealed that for this purpose the
Germans used up to 500 Russian war prisoners specially selected from
war prisoners' camp No. 126.

The Special Commission has at its
disposal numerous statements of witnesses on this matter. The evidence
of the medical personnel of the above-mentioned camp merits special
attention. Dr. Chizhov, who worked in camp No. 126 during the German
occupation of Smolensk, testified:

"Just about the beginning of March 1943 several groups of the
physically stronger war prisoners, totalling about 500, were sent from
the Smolensk Camp No. 126 ostensibly for trench work. None of these
prisoners ever returned to the camp."

Dr. Khmurov, who worked in the same camp under the Germans, testified:

"I know that somewhere about the second half of February or the
beginning of March, 1943, about 500 Red Army men prisoners were sent
from our camp to a destination unknown to me. The prisoners were
apparently to be use for trench digging, for the more physically fit
men were selected..."

The testimony of Moskovskaya made it clear where the 500 war prisoners
from Camp 126 were actually sent. On October 5, 1943, the citizen
Moskovskaya, Alexandra Mikhailovna, who lived on the outskirts of
Smolensk and had worked during the occupation in the kitchen of a
German military unit, filed an application to the Extraordinary
Committee for the Investigation of Atrocities Perpetuated by the German
Invaders, requesting them to summon her to give important evidence. She
told the Special Commission that before leaving for work in March,
1943, when she went to fetch firewood from her shed in the yard on the
banks of the Dnieper, she discovered there an unknown person who proved
to be a Russian war prisoner.

Moskovskaya, who was born in 1922, testified:

"From conversation with him I learned that his name was Nikolai
Yegorov, a native of Leningrad. Since the end of 1941 he had been in
the German camp No. 126 for war prisoners in the town of Smolensk. At
the beginning of March 1943, he was sent with a column of several
hundred war prisoners from the camp to Katyn Forest. There they,
including Yegorov, were compelled to dig up graves containing bodies in
the uniforms of Polish officers, drag these bodies out of the graves
and take out of their pockets documents, letters, photographs and all
other articles.

“The Germans gave the strictest orders that nothing be left in the
pockets on the bodies. Two war prisoners were shot because after they
had searched some of the bodies, a German officer discovered some
papers on these bodies. Articles, documents and letters extracted from
the clothing on the bodies were examined by the German officers, who
then compelled the prisoners to put part of the papers back into the
pockets on the bodies, while the rest was flung on a heap of articles
and documents they had extracted, and later burned.

"Besides this, the Germans made the prisoners put into the pockets of
the Polish officers some papers which they took from the cases or
suitcases (I don't remember exactly) which they had brought along. All
the war prisoners lived in Katyn Forest in dreadful conditions under
the open sky, and were extremely strongly guarded…. At the beginning of
April 1943, all the work planned by the Germans was apparently
completed, as for three days not one of the war prisoners had to do any
work….

"Suddenly at night all of them without exception were awakened and led
somewhere. The guard was strengthened. Yegorov sensed something was
wrong and began to watch very closely everything that was happening.
They marched for three or four hours in an unknown direction. They
stopped in the forest at a pit in a clearing. He saw how a group of war
prisoners were separated from the rest and driven towards the pit and
then shot. The war prisoners grew agitated, restless and noisy. Not far
from Yegorov several war prisoners attacked the guards. Other guards
ran towards the place. Yegorov took advantage of the confusion and ran
away into the dark forest, hearing shouts and firing.

"After hearing this terrible story, which is engraved on my memory for
the rest of my life, I became very sorry for Yegorov, and told him to
come to my room, get warm and hide at my place until he had regained
his strength. But Yegorov refused.... He said no matter what happened
he was going away that very night, and intended to try to get through
the front line to the Red Army. In the morning, when I went to make
sure whether Yegorov had gone, he was still in the shed. It appeared
that in the night he had attempted to set out, but had only taken about
50 steps when he felt so weak that he was forced to return. This
exhaustion was caused by the long imprisonment at the camp and the
starvation of the last days. We decided he should remain at my place
several days longer to regain his strength. After feeding Yegorov I
went to work. When I returned home in the evening my neighbours
Baranova, Mariya Ivanovna, Kabanovskaya, Yekaterina Viktorovna told me
that in the afternoon, during a search by the German police, the Red
Army war prisoner had been found, and taken away."

As a result of the discovery of the war prisoner Yegorov in the shed,
Moskovskaya was called to the Gestapo, where she was accused of hiding
a war prisoner. At the Gestapo interrogation Moskovskaya stoutly denied
that she had any connection with this war prisoner, maintaining she
knew nothing about his presence in her shed. Since they got no
admission from Moskovskaya, and also because the war prisoner Yegorov
evidently had not incriminated Moskovskaya, she was let out of the
Gestapo.

This same Yegorov told Moskovskaya that as well as excavating bodies in
Katyn Forest, the war prisoners were used to bring bodies to the Katyn
Forest from other places.

The bodies so brought were thrown into pits along with the bodies that
had been dug up earlier. The fact that a great number of bodies of
people shot by the Germans in other places were brought to the Katyn
graves is confirmed also by the testimony of engineer mechanic K. S.
Sukhachev, born in 1912, an engineer mechanic of the "Rosglavkhleb"
combine, who worked under the Germans as a mechanic in the Smolensk
city mill. On October 8, 1943, he filed a request that he be called to
testify. Called before the Special Commission, he stated:

"I was working at the mill in the second half of March, 1943. There I
spoke to a German chauffeur who spoke a little Russian, and since he
was carrying flour to Savenki village for the troops, and was returning
on the next day to Smolensk, I asked him to take me along so that I
could buy some fats in the village. My idea was that making the trip in
a German truck would get over the risk of being held up at the control
stations. The German agreed to take me, at a price.

"On the same day at 10 p.m. we drove on to the Smolensk-Vitebsk
highway, just myself and the German driver in the machine. The night
was light, and only a low mist over the road reduced the visibility.
Approximately 22 or 23 kilometres from Smolensk at a demolished bridge
on the highway there is a rather deep descent at the by-pass. We began
to go down from the highway, when suddenly a truck appeared out of the
fog coming towards us. Either because our brakes were out of order, or
because the driver was inexperienced, we were unable to bring our truck
to a halt, and since the passage was quite narrow we collided with the
truck coming towards us. The impact was not very violent, as the driver
of the other truck swerved to the side, as a result of which the trucks
bumped and slid alongside each other.

“The right wheel of the other truck, however, landed in the ditch, and
the truck fell over on the slope. Our truck remained upright. The
driver and I immediately jumped out of the cabin and ran up to the
truck which had fallen down. We were met by a heavy stench of
putrefying flesh coming evidently from the truck."

"On coming nearer, I saw that the truck was carrying a load covered
with a tarpaulin and tied up with ropes. The ropes had snapped with the
impact, and part of the load had fallen out on the slope. This was a
horrible load – human bodies dressed in military uniforms. As far as I
can remember there were some six or seven men near the truck: one
German driver, two Germans armed with tommy-guns – the rest were
Russian war prisoners, as they spoke Russian and were dressed
accordingly.

"The Germans began to abuse my driver and then made some attempts to
right the truck. In about two minutes time two more trucks drove up to
the place of the accident and pulled up. A group of Germans and Russian
war prisoners, about ten men in all, came up to us from these
trucks.... By joint efforts we began to raise the truck. Taking
advantage of an opportune moment I asked one of the Russian war
prisoners in a low voice: 'What is it?' He answered very quietly: 'For
many nights already we have been carrying bodies to Katyn Forest.’

"Before the overturned truck had been raised a German N.C.O. came up to
me and my driver and ordered us to proceed immediately. As no serious
damage had been done to our truck the driver steered it a little to one
side and got on to the highway, and we went on. When we were passing
the two covered trucks which had come up later I again smelled the
horrible stench of dead bodies."

Sukhachev's testimony is confirmed by that of Vladimir Afanasievich
Yegorov, who served as policeman in the Police Station during the
occupation. Yegorov testified that when owing to the nature of his
duties he was guarding a bridge at a crossing of the Moscow-Minsk and
Smolensk-Vitebsk highways at the end of March and early in April, 1943,
he saw going towards Smolensk on several nights big trucks covered with
tarpaulins and spreading a heavy stench of dead flesh. Several men,
some of whom were armed and were undoubtedly Germans, sat in the
driver's cabin of each truck, and behind.

Yegorov reported his observations to Kuzma Demyanovich Golovney, Chief
of the Police Station in the village of Arkhipovka, who advised him to
"hold his tongue" and added: "This does not concern us. We have no
business to be mixing in German affairs."

That the Germans were carrying bodies on trucks to the Katyn Forest is
testified by Frol Maximovich Yalovlev-Sokolov (born in 1896), a former
agent for restaurant supplies in the Smolensk Restaurant Trust and,
under the Germans, Chief of Police of Katyn. He stated that once, early
in April, 1943, he himself saw four tarpaulin-covered trucks passing
along the highway to Katyn Forest. Several men armed with tommy-guns
and rifles rode in them. An acrid stench of flesh came from these
trucks.

From the above testimony it can be concluded with all clarity that the
Germans shot Poles in other places too. In bringing their bodies to the
Katyn Forest they pursued a triple object: firstly to destroy the
traces of their own crimes, secondly to ascribe their own crimes to the
Soviet Government, thirdly to increase the number of "victims of
Bolshevism" in the Katyn Forest graves.

Excursions to the Katyn Graves

In April, 1943, having finished all the preparatory work at the graves
in Katyn Forest, the German occupationists began a wide campaign in the
Press and over the radio in an attempt to ascribe to the Soviet Power
atrocities they themselves had committed against Polish war prisoners.
As one method of provocational agitation, the Germans arranged visits
to the Katyn graves by residents of Smolensk and its suburbs as well as
"delegations" from countries occupied by the German invaders or their
vassals. The Special Commission questioned a number of delegates who
took part in the "excursions" to the Katyn graves.

Zhukov, a doctor specialising in pathological anatomy who worked as
Medico-Legal Expert in Smolensk, testified before the Special
Commission: "The clothing of the bodies, particularly the greatcoats,
boots and belts, were in a good state of preservation. The metal parts
of the clothing – belt buckles, button hooks and spikes on shoe soles,
etc. – were not heavily rusted, and in some cases the metal still
retained its polish. Sections of the skin of the bodies which could be
seen – faces, necks, arms – were chiefly a dirty green colour, and in
some cases dirty brown, but there was no complete disintegration of the
tissues, no putrefaction. In some cases bared tendons of whitish colour
and parts of muscles could be seen.

"While I was at the excavations people were at work sorting and
extracting bodies at the bottom of a big pit. For this purpose they
used spades and other tools, and also took hold of bodies with their
hands and dragged them from place to place by the arms, the legs or the
clothing. I did not see a single case of bodies falling apart or of any
member being torn off.

"Considering all the above, I arrived at the conclusion that the bodies
had remained in the earth not three years, as the Germans affirmed, but
much less. Knowing that in mass graves, and especially without coffins,
putrefaction of bodies progresses more quickly than in single graves, I
concluded that the mass shooting of the Poles had taken place about a
year and a-half ago, and could have occurred in autumn 1941 or in
spring, 1942. As a result of my visit to the excavation site I became
firmly convinced that a monstrous crime had been committed by the
Germans."

Testimony to the effect that the clothing of the bodies, its metal
parts, shoes and even the bodies themselves were well preserved was
given by numerous witnesses who took part in "excursions" to the Katyn
graves and who were questioned by the Special Commission. These
witnesses include the manager of the Smolensk Water Supply System,
Kitzev; a Katyn school teacher, Vetrova; a telephone operator of
Smolensk Communications Bureau, Shchedrova; a resident of the village
of Borok, Alexeyev; a resident of the village of Novye Bateki,
Krivozertsev; the stationmaster on duty at Gnezdovo station,
Savvateyev; a citizen of Smolensk, Pushchina; a doctor at the Second
Smolensk Hospital, Sidoruk; Kesserev, a doctor at the same hospital.

Germans Attempt To Cover Up Traces of Their Crimes

The "excursions" organised by the Germans failed to achieve their aim.
All who visited the graves saw for themselves that they were confronted
with the crudest and most obvious German-Fascist frame-up. The German
authorities accordingly took steps to make the doubters keep quiet. The
Special Commission heard the testimony of a great number of witnesses
who related how the German authorities persecuted those who doubted or
disbelieved the provocation. These doubters were discharged from work,
arrested, threatened with shooting.

The Commission established that in two cases people were shot for
failure to "hold their tongues." Such reprisals were taken against the
former German policeman Zagainev, and against Yegorov, who worked on
the excavation of graves in Katyn Forest. Testimony about the
persecution of people who expressed doubt after visiting the graves in
Katyn Forest was given by Zubareva, a woman cleaner employed by Drug
Store No. 1 in Smolensk; Kozlova, assistant sanitation doctor of Stalin
District Health Department in Smolensk, and others.

Yakovlev-Sokolov, former Chief of Police of Katyn area, testified: "A
situation arose which caused serious alarm in the German Commandant's
Office, and police organs in the periphery were given urgent
instructions to nip in the bud all harmful talk at any price, and
arrest all persons who expressed disbelief in the 'Katyn affair.' I
myself, as chief of the area police, was given instructions to this
effect at the end of May 1943 by the German commandant of the village
of Katyn, Oberleutnant Braung, and at the beginning of June by the
chief of Smolensk District Police, Kamensky.

"I called an instructional conference of the police in my area, at
which I ordered the police to detain and bring to the police station
anyone who expressed disbelief or doubted the truth of German reports
about the shooting of Polish war prisoners by the Bolsheviks. In
fulfilling these instructions of the German authorities I clearly acted
against my conscience, as I myself was certain that the 'Katyn affair'
was a German frame-up. I became finally convinced of that when I myself
made an 'excursion' to Katyn Forest."

Seeing that the summer 1943 "excursions" of the local population to the
Katyn graves did not achieve their purpose, the German occupation
authorities ordered the graves to be filled in. Before their retreat
from Smolensk they began hastily to cover up the traces of their
crimes. The country house occupied by the "H.Q. of the 537th Building
Battalion" was burned to the ground.

The Germans searched for the three girls Alexeyeva, Mikhailova and
Konakhovskaya – In the village of Borok in order to take them away and
perhaps to kill them. They also searched for their main "witness,"
Kisselev, who together with his family had succeeded in hiding. The
Germans burned down his house. They endeavoured to seize other
"witnesses" too – the former stationmaster of Gnezdovo, Ivanov, and the
former acting stationmaster of the same station, Savvateyev, as well as
the former coupler at the Smolensk station, Zakharov.

During the very last days before their retreat from Smolensk, the
German-Fascist occupationists looked for Professors Bazilevsky and
Yefimov. Both succeeded in evading deportation or death only because
they had escaped in good time. Nevertheless, the German-Fascist
invaders did not succeed in covering up the traces of or concealing
their crime.

Examination by medico-legal experts of the exhumed bodies proved
irrefutably that the Polish war prisoners were shot by the Germans
themselves. The protocol of the Medico-Legal Experts' Investigation
follows.

Protocol of the Medico-Legal Experts' Investigation

In accordance with the instructions of the Special Commission for
ascertaining and investigating the circumstances of the shooting of
Polish officers prisoners by the German-Fascist invaders in Katyn
Forest (near Smolensk), a Commission of Medico-Legal Experts was set up
consisting of Prozorovsky, Chief Medico-Legal Expert of the People's
Commissariat of Health Protection of the U.S.S.R. and Director of the
State Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Medicine; Doctor of
Medicine Smolyaninov, Professor of Forensic Medicine at the Second
Moscow State Medical Institute; Doctor of Medicine Voropayev, Professor
of Pathological Anatomy; Doctor Semenovsky, senior staff scientist of
the Thanatology Department of the State Scientific Research Institute
of Forensic Medicine under the People's Commissariat of Health
Protection of the U.S.S.R.; Assistant Professor Shvaikova senior staff
scientist of the Chemico-Legal Department of the State Scientific
Research Institute of Forensic Medicine under the People's Commissariat
of Health Protection of the U.S.S.R.; with the participation of Major
of Medical Service Nikolsky, Chief Medico-Legal Expert of the Western
Front; Captain of Medical Service Bussoyedov, Medico-Legal Expert of
the X. Army; Major of Medical Service, Subbotin, Chief of Pathological
Anatomy Laboratory No. 92; Major of Medical Service Ogloblin; Senior
Lieutenant of Medical Service Sadykov, medical specialist; Senior
Lieutenant of Medical Service Pushkareva.

During the period between January 16 and January 23, 1944, these
medico-legal experts conducted exhumation and medico-legal examination
of the bodies of Polish war prisoners buried in graves on the territory
of "Kozy Gory" in Katyn Forest 15 kms. from Smolensk. The bodies of
Polish war prisoners were buried in a common grave about 60 by 60 by
three metres in dimension, and also in another grave about seven by six
by three and a half metres. Nine hundred and twenty-five bodies were
exhumed from the graves and examined. The exhumation and medico-legal
examination of the bodies were effected in order to establish: (a)
identity of the dead; (b) causes of death; (c) time of burial.

Circumstances of the case: See materials of the Special Commission.
Objective evidence: See the protocols of the medico-legal examination
of the bodies.

Conclusion of Medico-Legal Experts

On the basis of the results of the medico-legal examination of the
bodies, the commission of medico-legal experts arrived at the following
conclusion:

Upon the opening of the graves and exhumations of bodies from them, it was established that:

(a) Among the mass of bodies of Polish war prisoners there were bodies
in civilian clothes, the number of which, in relation to the total
number of bodies examined, is insignificant (in all two out of 925
exhumed bodies); shoes of army pattern were on these bodies.

(b) The clothing on the bodies of the war prisoners showed that they
were officers, and included some privates of the Polish Anny.

(c) Slits in the pockets, pockets turned inside out, and tears in them
discovered during examination of the clothing show that as a rule all
the clothes on each body (greatcoats, trousers, etc.) bear traces of
searches effected of the dead bodies.

(d) In some cases whole pockets were found during examination of the
clothing, scraps of newspapers, prayer books, pocket books, postage
stamps, postcards and letters, receipts, notes and other documents, as
well as articles of value (a gold nugget, dollars). Pipes, pocket
knives, cigarette papers, handkerchiefs and other articles were found
in these pockets, as well as in the turned-out and torn pockets, under
the linings, in the belts of the coats, in footwear and socks.

(e) Some of the documents found contain data referring to the period between November 12, 1940, and June 20, 1941.

(f) The fabric of clothes, especially of greatcoats, uniforms, trousers
and tunics, is in a good state of preservation and can be torn with the
hands only with great difficulty.

(g) A very small proportion of the bodies (20 out of 925) had the hands
tied behind the back with woven cords. The condition of the clothes on
the bodies – namely the fact that uniform jackets, shirts, belts,
trousers and underwear are buttoned up, boots or shoes are on the feet,
scarves and ties tied around the necks, suspenders attached, shirts
tucked in – testifies that no external examination of the bodies and
extremities of the bodies had been effected previously. The intact
state of the skin on the heads, and the absence on them, as on the skin
of the chests and abdomens (save in three cases out of 925) of any
incisions, cuts or other signs, show convincingly that, judging by the
bodies exhumed by the experts' commission, there had been no
medico-legal examination of the bodies.

External and internal examination of 925 bodies proves the existence of
bullet wounds on the head and neck, combined in four cases with injury
of the bones of the cranium caused by a blunt, hard heavy object. Also,
in a small number of cases were discovered injuries of the abdomen
caused simultaneously with the wound in the head.

Entry orifices of the bullet wounds, as a rule singular, more rarely
double, are situated in the occipital part of the head near the
occipital protuberance, at the big occipital orifice or at its edge. In
a few cases entry orifices of bullets have been found on the back
surface of the neck, corresponding to the first or second or third
vertebrae of the neck. The points of exit of the bullets have been
found more frequently in the frontal area, more rarely in the parietal
and templar areas as well as in the face and neck.

In 27 cases the bullet wounds proved to be blind (without exit
orifices), and at the end of the bullet channels under the soft
membrane of the cranium, in its bones, in the membranes and in the
brain matter, were found deformed, barely deformed, or altogether
undeformed cased bullets of the type used with automatic pistols,
mostly of the 7.65mm. calibre.

The dimensions of the entry orifices in the occipital bone make it
possible to draw the conclusion that fire arms of two calibres were
employed in the shooting: in the majority of cases, those of less than
8mm., i.e., 7.65mm. or less, and in a lesser number of cases, those of
more than 8mm., i.e., 9mm.

The nature of the fissures of the cranial bones, and the fact that in
some cases traces of powder were found at the entry orifice, proves
that the shots were fired pointblank or nearly pointblank. Correlation
of the points of entry and exit of the bullets shows that the shots
were fired from behind with the head bent forward. The bullet channel
pierced the vital parts of the brain, or near them, and death was
caused by destruction of the brain tissues. The injuries inflicted by a
blunt, hard, heavy object found on the parietal bones of the cranium
were concurrent with the bullet wounds of the head, and were not in
themselves the cause of death.

The medico-legal examination of the bodies carried out between January
16 and January 23, 1944, testifies that there are absolutely no bodies
in a condition of decay or disintegration, and that all the 925 bodies
are in a state of preservation – in the initial phase of desiccation of
the body – which most frequently and clearly was expressed in the
region of the thorax and abdomen, sometimes also in the extremities;
and in the initial stage of formation of adipocere (in an advanced
phase of formation of adipocere in the bodies extracted from the bottom
of the graves); in a combination of desiccation of the tissues of the
body with the formation of adipocere.

Especially noteworthy is the fact that the muscles of the trunk and
extremities absolutely preserved their macroscopic structure and almost
normal colour; the internal organs of the thorax and peritoneal cavity
preserved their configuration. In many cases sections of heart muscle
have a clearly discernible structure and specific colouration, while
the brain presented its characteristic structural peculiarities with a
distinctly discernible border between the grey and white matter.

Besides the macroscopic examination of the tissues and organs of the
bodies, the medico-legal experts removed the necessary material for
subsequent microscopic and chemical studies in laboratory conditions.

Properties of the soil in the place of discovery were of a certain
significance in the preservation of the tissues and organs of the
bodies. After the opening of the graves and exhumation of the bodies
and their exposure to the air, the corpses were subject to the action
of warmth and moisture in the late summer season of 1943. This could
have resulted in a vigorous progress of decay. However, the degree of
desiccation of the bodies and formation of adipocere in them,
especially the good state of preservation of the muscles and internal
organs, as well as of the clothes, give grounds to affirm that the
bodies had not remained in the earth for long.

Comparing the condition of bodies in the grave on the territory of
"Kozy Gory" with the condition of the bodies in other burial places in
Smolensk and its nearest environs – Gedeonovka, Maglenshchina,
Readovka, Camp No. 126, Krasny Bor, etc. (see protocol of the
Commission of Medico-Legal Experts dated October 22, 1943) – it should
be admitted that the bodies of the Polish war prisoners were buried on
the territory of "Kozy Gory" about two years ago. This finds its
complete corroboration in the documents found in the clothes on the
bodies, which preclude the possibility of earlier burial (see point" d
" of paragraph 36 and list of documents).

The commission of medico-legal experts, on the basis of the data and
results of the investigation, consider as proved the fact of the
killing by shooting of the Polish Army officer and private war
prisoners; asserts that this shooting dates back to about two years
ago, i.e. between September and December of 1941; regards the fact of
the discovery by the commission of medico-legal experts, in the clothes
on the bodies, of valuables and documents dated 1941, as proof that the
German-Fascist authorities who undertook a search of the bodies in the
spring-summer season of 1943 did not do it thoroughly, while the
documents discovered testify that the shooting was done after June
1941; notes that in 1943 the Germans had made an extremely small number
of post-mortem examinations of the bodies of the shot Polish war
prisoners; notes the complete identity of method of the shooting of the
Polish war prisoners with that of the shooting of Soviet civilians and
war prisoners widely practised by the German-Fascist authorities in the
temporarily occupied territory of the U.S.S.R., including the towns of
Smolensk, Orel, Kharkov, Krasnodar and Voronezh.

Signed by the Chief Medico-Legal Expert of the People's Commissariat of
Health Protection of the U.S.S.R., Director of the State Scientific
Research Institute of Forensic Medicine under the People's Commissariat
of Health Protection of the U.S.S.R., PROZOROVSKY; Professor of Forensic Medicine at the Second Moscow State Medical Institute, Doctor of Medicine SMOLYANINOV; Professor of Pathological Anatomy, Doctor of Medicine VOROPAYEV; Senior
Staff Scientist of Thanatological Dept. of the State Scientific
Research Institute of Forensic Medicine under the People's Commissariat
of Health Protection of the U.S.S.R., Doctor SEMENOVSKY; Senior
Staff Scientist of the Forensic Chemistry Dept. of the State Scientific
Research Institute of Forensic Medicine under the People's Commissariat
of Health Protection of the U.S.S.R., Assistant Professor SHYAIKOVA.

Smolensk, January 24, 1944.

Documents Found On the Bodies

Besides the data
recorded in the protocol of the commission of medico-legal experts, the
time of the shooting of the Polish officer prisoners by the Germans
(autumn 1941, and not spring 1940 as the Germans assert) is also
ascertained by documents found when the graves were opened, dating not
only the latter half of 1940 but also the spring and summer
(March-June) of 1941. Of the documents discovered by the medico-legal
experts, the following deserve special attention:

1. On body No. 92: A letter from Warsaw addressed to the Central War
Prisoners' Bureau of the Red Cross, Moscow, Kuibyshev Street, House No.
12. The letter is written in Russian. In this letter Sofia Zigon
inquires the whereabouts of her husband Tomasz Zigon. The letter is
dated September 12, 1940. The envelope bears the impress of it German
rubber stamp "Warsaw Sept. 1940" and a rubber stamp "Moscow, Central
Post Office, ninth delivery, Sept. 28, 1940," and an inscription in the
Russian language: "Ascertain and forward for delivery, November 15,
1940" (signature illegible).

2. On body No. 4: A postcard registered under the number 0112 from
Tarnopol stamped "Tarnopol Nov. 12, 1940." The written text and address
are discoloured.

3. On body No. 101: A receipt No. 10293 dated Dec. 19, 1939 issued by
the Kozelsk Camp testifying receipt of a gold watch from Eduard
Adamovich Lewandowski. On the back of the receipt is a note dated March
14, 1941 on the sale of this watch to the Jewellery Trading Trust.

4. On body No. 46: A receipt (number illegible) issued December 16,
1939 by the Starobelsk Camp testifying receipt of a gold watch from
Vladimir Rudolfovich Araszkevicz. On the back of the receipt is a note
dated March 25, 1941 stating that the watch was sold to the Jewellery
Trading Trust.

5. On body No. 71: A small paper ikon with the image of Christ, found
between pages 114 and 145 of a Catholic prayer book. The inscription,
with legible signature, on the back of the ikon reads: "Jadwiga" and
bears the date April 4, 1941."

6. On body No. 46: A receipt dated April 6, 1941 issued by the Camp No.
1-ON, showing receipt of a sum in roubles from Araszkevicz.

7. On the same body No. 46: A receipt dated May 5, 1941 issued by Camp
No. 1-ON, showing receipt of 102 roubles from Araszkevicz.

From all the material at the disposal of the Special Commission, namely
evidence given by over 100 witnesses questioned, data supplied by the
medico-legal experts, documents and material evidence found in the
graves in the Katyn Forest, the following conclusions emerge with
irrefutable clarity:

1. The Polish prisoners of war who were in the three camps west of
Smolensk, and employed on road building before the outbreak of war,
remained there after the German invaders reached Smolensk, until
September, 1941, inclusive.

2. In the Katyn Forest, in the autumn of 1941, the German occupation
authorities carried out mass shootings of Polish prisoners of war from
the above-named camps.

3. The mass shootings of Polish prisoners of war in the Katyn Forest
was carried out by a German military organisation hiding behind the
conventional name "H.Q. of the 537th Engineering Battalion," which
consisted of Ober-leutnant Arnes, his assistant, Ober-leutnant Rekst,
and Lieutenant Hott.

4. In connection with the deterioration of the general military and
political situation for Germany at the beginning of the year 1943, the
German occupation authorities, with provocational aims, took a number
of steps in order to ascribe their own crimes to the organs of the
Soviet Power, calculating on setting Russians and Poles at loggerheads.

5. With this aim, (a) the German-Fascist invaders, using persuasion,
attempts at bribery, threats and barbarous torture, tried to find
witnesses among Soviet citizens, from whom they tried to extort false
evidence alleging that the Polish prisoners of war had been shot by the
organs of Soviet Power in the spring of 1940; (b) the German occupation
authorities in the spring of 1943 brought in from other districts
bodies of Polish war prisoners whom they had shot and put them into the
open graves in the Katyn Forest, calculating on covering up the traces
of their own crimes, and on increasing the number of "victims of
Bolshevik atrocities" in the Katyn Forest; (c) preparing for their
provocation, the German occupation authorities started opening the
graves in the Katyn Forest in order to take out documents and material
evidence which exposed them, using for this work about 500 Russian
prisoners of war who were shot by the Germans after the work was
completed.

6. It has been established beyond doubt from the evidence of the
medico-legal experts, that (a) the time of the shooting was the autumn
of 1941; (b) in shooting the Polish war prisoners the German hangmen
applied the same method of pistol shots in the back of the head as they
applied in the mass execution of Soviet citizens in other towns, e.g.,
Orel, Voronezh, Krasnodar and Smolensk itself.

7. The conclusions drawn from the evidence given by witnesses, and from
the shooting of Polish war prisoners by the Germans in the autumn of
1941, are completely confirmed by the material evidence and documents
excavated from the Katyn graves.

8. In shooting
the Polish war prisoners in the Katyn Forest, the German-Fascist
invaders consistently carried out their policy of physical
extermination of the Slav peoples.

Signed:

Chairman of the Special Commission, Member of the Extraordinary State Commission, Academician Burdenko.

Members:

Member of the Extraordinary State Commission, Academician Alexei Tolstoy.
Member of the Extraordinary State Commission, the Metropolitan Nikolai.
Chairman of the All-Slav Committee, Lieutenant-General Gundorov.
Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Union of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Kolesnikov.
People's Commissar for Education of the Russian S.F.S.R., Academician Potemkin.
Chief of the Central Medical Administration of the Red Army, Colonel-General Smirnov.
Chairman of the Smolensk Regional Executive Committee, Melnikov.